Author: naylorsa

Science in the “national interest”

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Representative Lamar Smith supports legislation to make NSF ensure each grantee is pursuing science in the national interest. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

A particularly concerning piece of legislation is making its way around the House of Representatives. This bill would require that the National Science Foundation (NSF) justify each grant it awards with respect to its contributions to protect the “national interest”. Earlier in the year, a similar bill was proposed with an extremely limited definition of what would meet “national interest” criteria. While the current bill has expanded its definition of national interest to include economic competitiveness, health and welfare, scientific literacy, partnerships between academia and industry, promotion of scientific progress and national defense, legislation like this should be getting all scientists up in arms.

Predicting which avenues of science will lead to major breakthroughs in health or energy is almost impossible. This bill would severely limit early exploratory work that has yet to prove it is in the national interest. This political interference in the operation of the scientific enterprise  is a very dangerous door to open. Decisions of what is in the national interest can very quickly become influenced by party politics and the interests of lobbyists. While it is important that NSF funds good proposals of sound science, requiring immediate association with national interest will lead to exaggerated claims by scientists and the exclusion of some of the future’s greatest breakthroughs.

Whether you are a scientist or not, reach out to your representative and let them know how this qualifier will negatively affect the scientific enterprise in the United States. If you don’t know who your representative is, you can find that information here.

Shock your brain into submission

The Brodmann area 25 is highlighted in red. Electrical stimulation of this area in some patients can alleviate symptoms of depression.
The Brodmann area 25 is highlighted in red. Electrical stimulation of this area in some patients can alleviate symptoms of depression.

This month’s special issue of Science Magazine is themed “The Heavily Connected Brain“. Articles center around the brain’s complex connections and the huge amount of data collected to study those connections. One particular issue related to brain connectivity is behavior and mood.

Many interacting circuits in the brain can influence a person’s behavior or mood. When these systems aren’t functioning correctly doctors can prescribe drugs to regulate the levels of various signaling molecules in the hope of restoring normal behavior or mood.

Some doctors are now turning to electrical current therapies to “reset” the malfunctioning circuit. This is not a new concept. Doctors have been using electrical currents as therapy since the 17th century. Continue reading “Shock your brain into submission”

Time to step up your baby talk game

kidThe literature investigating developmental differences between children from affluence and from poverty is both large and controversial. Many studies present evidence that children from impoverished homes have weaker language skills and delays in reading that cause them to lag behind their peers in school. This topic has always been fraught with controversy because it lies at the intersection of child development, racial politics, and demographic discrimination.

A recently published study examined language skills in VERY young children, 18-24 months old, from different socio-economic backgrounds. The differences they found were surprising and raise questions about how we raise our children. Continue reading “Time to step up your baby talk game”

Hey, I know that guy!

Image by Adam Baker
Nobel Prize Image by Adam Baker

In graduate school, while you are building your super-specialized knowledge base there are often particular labs whose work you are on the look-out for while searching for new papers to read. Sometimes it’s a competitor that you’re keeping tabs on, other times it’s your science crush, and more often it’s just scientists whose work is consistently thorough and enlightening. For me, studying synaptic development, one of those labs was the Sudhof lab at Stanford. When I heard he had won the Nobel prize a few weeks ago I was pretty excited to actually know what work contributed to that prize without reading the press release. Cell press has made the journal article detailing his seminal discoveries available to everyone. The award was made to those contributing to discovery of the machinery regulating vesicle traffic, the major transport mechanism within a cell. Dr. Sudhof’s contributions were specific to vesicle trafficking within nerve cells.

Sudhof’s seminal work focused on multiple forms of a protein called synaptotagmin. This protein is attached to synaptic vesicles which are packages of neurotransmitters that are released from a cell when that cell is activated. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that then travel to the next cell and carry the signal of activation. Sudhof showed that different types of synaptotagmin are expressed all throughout the brain. He also showed that they are at areas called the synapse, the connection between two cells. One of the components of his work most critical to the future of neuroscience was his discovery that 3 of the 4 types of synaptotagmin bind to calcium. Continue reading “Hey, I know that guy!”

The International Cryptozoology Museum

Esau-head-smI think this post might be better categorized as Have “Science” Will Travel. A few weeks ago I went up to Maine to see some nature and get my lobster on. In my search for interesting things to do, I came across the International Cryptozoology Museum. At first I thought it was a museum of micro-organisms (my grasp of Greek prefixes may not be what it should)…but oh my, it was so much better than that. Cryptozoology is actually the study of and search for animals whose existence has not yet been proven (Like Nessie…or Bigfoot). Continue reading “The International Cryptozoology Museum”